Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois is one of the largest churches in the country.  But you'll see that they use their website more as an advertising tool to get people to come to the church.  Rather than put their sermons and services online, they've taken a deliberate approach to draw people to their campus for  ministry.  

Let's look at the site at www.willowcreek.org.  You'll notice that they prominently display driving directions to get to their church.  This is actually a fairly simple addition to any website because it takes free advantage of the maps on mapquest.com, so there's no additional burden on churches to create their own complex mapping software.  

To try out the directions yourself, go to www.willowcreek.org, choose "Getting Here", then choose "Driving Directions."  Click on Directions to or Directions from and you can find out exactly how to get from your doorstep to theirs, including one way streets and driving time.

Another large church, the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California uses their site for all kinds of things.  But what I want to highlight is their section for online counseling.  Through their New Hope link, they offer a free private counseling service during certain hours of the day to anyone who contacts them.  To take a look, go to crystalcathdral.org and click New Hope or private online counseling.

Let's take a look at a few more before moving on to creating your own site.

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